Light
by Russettip
Summary: In a world of darkness, one girl discovers light through alchemy. She escapes her prison of a world, and now vows to seek revenge on the military for their sick experiment on those still in the Underground. Ed and Al save her from death, but can they purify her heart as well? Or will she remain a weak, lonely alchemist seeking revenge? And where are this girl's parents?
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

That night marked the coldest of all nights in the Underground. It must have been winter, many of the people thought; maybe there was a blizzard. Disease spread throughout the dirt-laden tunnels like wildfire spreading within a forest. Those already suffering from asthma were at a higher risk than others; the disease struck the lungs, making them feel cold and it hard to breathe. One girl in particular, one who had been raised from the tender age of two years old in the tunnels, had this deadly disease. She marked the beginning of change- and in more ways than one.

This girl, nameless, just like all the others, managed to build up a strong-enough immunity to the disease that caused her to survive. However, the survival came at a price. The girl now had a deadly case of asthma that would put her into fits that she barely survived. As she grew older, the asthma died down, though the occasional attack would occur.

That very night, the cold air chilling her lungs, the girl felt helpless and weak. Deprived of her energy because of her bouts of sickness, she would be unable to sleep until the lack of oxygen in her lungs caused her to pass out. Her mind, stubborn as it was, took a lot to do so however, so she stubbornly clung to consciousness. At that point, she wanted nothing more than for all of the suffering to end already.

Then, when almost all hope was lost, a man Appeared at what the Undergrounders called the Entrance. He called himself a state-alchemist. Those in the Underground barely knew of such people, so they shied from him. The girl, however, took an interest. "Can…you… help me?" she wheezed to the old man.

He looked at her with his kind grey eyes and nodded. "Come with me, sick child of fourteen years. Let me help you." They joined hands and she walked him to her part of the wall, where she slept. "Tell me more about your people." The man spoke in a conversational tone as he pulled out a cylinder-like object from his pocket. He called it an inhaler. "You hold it up to your mouth and breathe in the chemicals that it spurts out. Like this, see?"

The girl, after using the so-called "inhaler," began to talk. "I don't know much; we like to keep to ourselves down here, so I don't get to talk to people very often. I think it's because we get attached to some others, and when they end up dying, well, it makes us more miserable and lonely than when we started out. Since I don't know much about the others, I guess I can tell you about me.

"I was told that I Appeared here when I was two years old. Of course, I don't remember that. The only things I remember from my childhood are the darkness and hunger. Sometimes the hunger would hurt my stomach so bad that it made others give me food in pity. I learned quickly that, down here, it's every man for himself. I grew accustomed to the loneliness fast enough, although there was always this one empty hole in my chest that only the tender care of a mother or father could fill.

The only remembrance of my parents that I have is my father's hands, sliding an oversized ring onto my finger. Here it is, actually," the girl said, holding up her hand to reveal a thick, silver band that seemed to fit snugly on her left ring finger.

"May I?" asked the man. The girl nodded and the man delicately took her hand to examine the ring, still on her finger, in the dim light. "Wow," he said in wonder. "What a perfectly crafted piece. Even complete with its own alchemist's circle," the man said almost as if to himself.

"Alchemist's circle?" questioned the girl. "You mean to say that my father was an alchemist? Could I become one too?" So many thoughts were running through the girl's mind that she thought her head would explode. If she could practice alchemy, could she get herself out of these tunnels? Could she get the others too?

The man nodded. "Yes, the circle. Because this was your father's ring, I wouldn't be surprised if he was indeed an alchemist. If you had the proper teachings you could probably become one yourself, yes. It does, however, take lots of vigorous studying and hard work to perfect the art of alchemy. One too many flaws and you could be done for."

The girl's head was spinning; she almost wanted to pass out from excitement. "Can you teach me?" she asked eagerly. The man looked at her sadly, and she knew instantly that he could not. "Why-?"

She was cut off by the man saying, "Alas, it is time for me to depart, child. Do be good to your-ah- neighbors. Maybe we'll meet again sometime in the future. Remember these to things dear: it's all about the balance-equivalent exchange, you see? And there's always a light at the end of the tunnel, sometimes it just takes a good eye and a long, hard look to see it." And with that, the man turned and walked briskly away, into the darkness.

The girl looked around, realizing that the two of them had been alone for the entirety of the meeting. What could his purpose have been if he had just come to talk to me and then leave? Wait- he can leave!

The girl then bolted after the man in the blue uniform, trying to catch up to him in the dark. She ended up at a fork in the road, one she had seen many times before. Both lead to dead-ends. Sighing, she figured that she had to pick one side eventually and went left. The path was blocked by sturdy wooden planks with more planks behind them- she had checked. The other path, she knew from memory, had enormous boulders that must've weighed many tons; no one she had ever told had been able to move them out of the way.

Defeated, she walked back to her spot against the wall, where she discovered others already asleep. She couldn't even think of sleeping- even if she wanted to. The encounter with the bizarre man had her adrenaline running. She was up for doing laps around the Underground if she felt like it.

The girl sat with her knees pulled up to below her chin, trying to ease the growing chill inside of her bones. _Alchemy_. The word popped into her head as easily as the thought of staying awake all night. Maybe she could create some sort of warmth from the air-or even light. She snorted, _now that's a thought_. She was still going to give it a shot, no matter how absurd the idea of light was.

_Now_, she thought, _how would I do this?_ Holding out her hands in a cup-like shape, she thought hard on _light, electricity, warmth, fire, something._ Nothing happened. The girl sighed, _I just want some light_.

The girl's eyes lit up when she saw her only real friend- or at least she considered him so- approaching. "What are you still doing up?" asked the nearing twenty-seven year old. His spiky black hair made his head look like it was cut off at the top. "Get to sleep. Hit the hay. Whatever expression you prefer; just sleep child."

The girl rolled her eyes and rested her chin against her knees. The adolescent had taught her almost everything she needed to know. She shut her eyes, pretending to sleep, but her mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. She sat there, still as a stone, until she heard him settle down near her. Once she was sure he was asleep, she opened her eyes and cupped her hands again.

_Wait_, she thought to herself. _Alchemy is a science, right? Maybe I need to think of it scientifically, rather than as if it were magic. _The girl tried remembering her lessons in science from the man that taught her. She vaguely remembered something about converting air molecules into electricity. _It's worth a shot._

She cupped her hands, her right pinky finger accidentally brushing against her fathers silver ring, and thought about it. And then a spark jumped. She was so taken aback that she started to have an asthma attack. She fumbled with her pocket, where the military man had slipped her the inhaler.

After the relief of being able to breathe again, the girl decided to try again, but not get as frightened. The sparks jumped again, from her left palm to her right. A giggle escaped her. Soon enough, the sparks flew strong and bright between her palms.

"What's with all the racket girl?" mumbled the twenty-seven year old, turning to face her. His eyes, illuminated by the yellow light, were wide in surprise and confusion. "Is that-"

"Hey! You two! What's all of the fuss about?" a big, burly man said, approaching rapidly. "Oh. My God. Light."

* * *

**A/N: What do you think so far? Is it too short? Well, you know me: Master of Short Beginnings! It _is_ longer than most of my beginnings (1,516 words), but it still _looks_ short. Please review! It motivates me to update :)**

**Lots of Love and Cookie Crumbs,**

**Russettip**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

Tonight was the night. _All of the abuse and the overworking ends today,_ thought Light. _I just need to get a moment alone_. "Hey- what's going on here?" Light called out into the crowd gathered along where she had met a man from the military a year previous. Because of her ability with light, Light got a high "rank" in the simple system they had created to keep things running smoothly, and the others quickly cleared a path towards what would hold back her plans of escape. "A four-year old girl?" she said in astonishment.

The girl was definitely around the age of four, being short with a chubby face and brown pigtails. She was also near tears. "Alright, let's give her some space guys. Seriously, shoo! Let her breathe." The crowd dispersed, although not with much grace or happiness.

Light approached the young girl, speaking softly. "Hey there. I'm not going to hurt you, don't worry. Just come with me and you'll be alright." The poor girl nodded, tears flying off of her face as she was lifted up by Light. "I'll be back guys. I need to take care of this one first."

"What about our light? We need you," complained many of the people. Light didn't respond, only walking around the corner with the thought that the others were becoming awfully clingy. Luckily, no one came chasing after her, because as soon as she rounded the corner she bolted, right to the fork in the tunnel and straight to the right side. She slowed down, four-year-old still in her arms, at the boulders.

"Alright, you stay right here. Uh, hold onto this," Light said, quickly creating a safe hand-hold for the little one out of a metal spike sticking out of the dirt wall. The girl obliged, standing there quietly. Light glanced back at her as she crouched down, creating a handle for herself out of another spike on the ground. In a flash, she touched her ring, then the wall of boulders, and then gripped the handle. The wall was reduced to a bunch of flowers- one of the easiest alchemical conversions that she had discovered. "Hold on!" Light yelled to the girl.

Water gushed down the tunnel, more than she had expected. Light looked back at the girl, who was holding on for dear life. She touched the ground, sending waves of alchemic conversions down to the little girl, creating multiple rungs for her to climb against the edge. Light created more rungs for herself to get to the edge.

The two met against the wall, high up, almost at the ceiling. There was air there. Wordlessly, Light kept creating rungs and they continued climbing against them. She knew from the very minute that she laid eyes on the girl that she was coming with her. There was a certain charm to the girl that Light couldn't quite figure out.

They seemed to be traveling forever, dodging rocks tumbling down on the way. There were a few close calls, but soon enough, they reached the source of the water. It was gushing in, filling up the tunnel with water. There was very little breathing space. "Wait here," Light told the girl, who nodded to her. Light smiled and took a deep breath, entering the water-filled hole.

The current was too strong for Light's weak body to work against. She cursed herself while flailing around for her inability to swim. Panic arose within her chest as she began to run out of air. Looking around helplessly for something to grab onto, she managed to snag the root of a tree along the steep bank of the river. It was just too bright for her too see. The sun was so bright.

She clung to it, holding herself above the water, and focused on her breathing. _Don't have an attack. Don't have an attack_, Light thought to herself. _That little girl needs you, Light. Don't let her down._

She took a deep breath, when all of a sudden her throat caught. _No, no, no!_ She tried to catch her breath, but it was impossible. Her lungs were closing up. "Help!" she managed weakly. "Help me!"

Light began to cough, her throat hurting and her lungs feeling like they were going to burst. She fumbled for her inhaler, but it was caught inside her inner pocket. If she struggled to hard, she could lose her grip on the root. "Help!" she wheezed. Then, all of a sudden, there was a splash to her left, upstream.

She was starting to feel weak and her wheezing had stopped- a bad sign- when an arm wrapped around her waist and roughly jerked her off of the root. Seconds that felt like hours later, she was on solid ground, coughing again on all fours. "Uhh, what do we do?!" exclaimed the boy who had saved her. "She's choking! Al!"

The one the blonde boy called Al appeared to have been in a suit of armor. "Um-"

Light finally managed to yank her inhaler out of her pocket and use it. When she could finally breathe well again, she almost fell down. Instead, she stayed on all fours, trying to speak. "There's a… girl," she mustered between heavy breaths. "Down there…"

The blonde boy crouched down in front of her. "Who is she? Where? "

"There," she pointed at the water behind her. "She's…four. I think… In that… hole." The boy looked Light in the eyes and nodded, standing up and jumping back into the water. She finally collapsed against the dirt, turning it to mud around her. She crossed her arms and buried her face inside of them, eventually passing out from exhaustion.

§

When Ed was out for a walk in the park, he did expect having it be so hard. The park was more of a trail through the woods, with steep slopes and lots of rocks that he tripped over. The rushing river trailing through the woods running parallel to them was calming, giving off a soothing sound. "Man, Al. I wish we had more time to do stuff like this," he said to Al, intertwining his fingers behind his head. "But we have to find that stupid philosopher's stone before it's too late."

Al nodded. "We need to fix our mistakes before they come back to bite us in the butt."

"I think it's a bit too late for that, Al," Ed replied with a slight laugh. He tilted his head, stopping in his tracks. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

Ed turned to face the river that was slightly further downhill from the path. "I think I heard," he paused. "There it was again! Somebody needs help, Al." Without a second thought, Ed rushed down the slope, skidding and sliding in some places.

"Brother! Don't leave me!" Al cried, quickly following his brother.

Moments later, they both stood at the edge of the river, next to each other on the rocks that lined the bank. Ed surveyed the river for the person calling out for help. He noticed her a few feet further downstream where there were no rocks and just a steep bluff riddled with roots, one of which the girl was holding on to.

Without thinking, Ed jumped into the water, swimming towards the girl. He grabbed her waist and swam two feet further to where he lifted her out of the water and deposited her on the ground. She seemed to have trouble breathing. "Al! What do we do?! She's choking!"

Al, who had followed his brother's progress from the safety of the river's edge, replied uselessly, "Um…"

The girl, meanwhile, was moving. Pulling out a cylinder from her pocket and inhaling from an open end of it. Ed slowly moved towards her as she spoke. "There's a girl down there."

"Who is she? Where?" Ed asked, crouching down in front of her now that her bout of sickness was past.

The black-haired girl pointed towards the water, "There. She's four, I think. In that hole." He looked her in the eye for a moment, examining her pale blue eyes to see if she was trustworthy. Ed nodded and stood, rushing back off to the water.

Just before he dived in, Al grabbed his arm and muttered, "Be safe brother. I don't want to lose you to a stupid river."

Ed smiled confidently and replied, "You've got nothing to worry about Al!" He turned back to the water as Al walked back to the girl, surveying the river for any sign of a hole. There was a wide, gaping hole further upstream. Ed dived into the water, holding his breath as deeply as his chest would allow. Once under the water, she struggled to orient himself, and swim against the current. The hole had rungs inside of it that made it easy to enter, and he used them to his advantage as boosts to get deeper inside.

He discovered space above the water where he could take gulps of air at a time. _This is probably how they stayed alive underneath the river_, Ed guessed. A few feet further into the tunnel-like structure Ed saw brown hair floating in the water.

_That must be the girl_, Ed thought. _Please, don't let her be dead_. As he approached, he saw more and more of the girl behind the boulder she was clinging to. She was lying there, still as the stone she was on. _Oh no…Um… Maybe she's just passed out?_

* * *

**A/N: Liking the story so far? If you haven't guessed already, this story will take place at some point before Lust and Co. showed up.**

**I'd appreciate a review, if you have the time! If not, I understand :) Enjoy the story!**

**With Lots of Love and Cookie Crumbs,**

**Russettip**


End file.
